I thought it would be fun to do another vlog because you all demanded that I do it under pain of death were eager to see another one. I'm even more awkward and rambly in this one, just so you know. *cringes*

Well, I hope you didn't die from the awkwardness. Good news, this video is actually relatively short. *pats self on the back* Only seven minutes long! You may have seen me glance to the side randomly at one point because I heard my mom come in the front door. XD (And don't ask me why the first part of the video is cut off--I figured it wasn't worth redoing the video just so you could hear me introduce myself.)

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Sorry for the short post today. Apparently my mind is blank right now (because I hit 67k, good grief O_O). SO YES. Take what you can get.

What is your favorite fall flavor? (And do you pronounce caramel "car-a-mel" or "car-mel"? You obviously heard what I call it. ;D) What is your favorite candy?

As you could probably tell by my last post (compliments of my wonderfully insane hacking friends from my NaNo group <3), I reached 50k. I STLL HAVE TO TELL MYSELF THIS IS IN FACT TRUE. And now, believe it or not, we are over HALFWAY through NaNo. How did this happen?!

I haven't written very much since I hit 50k (because of mountains of speech homework and a general lack of motivation :P), but I did hit 60k this week so yayyy!

See, barely any writing this week. *pouts* But still, 60k is cool. :D

AND GUESS WHAT. My story is still. not. done. I mean, seriously? It's over 85k now. *dies* It needs to end soooon. Otherwise I might kill my characters. (Or vice versa. XD) I'm expecting it to reach 100k at this point.

Fortunately, I did outline the rest of my book loosely, but it's taking a lot longer than I expected. I tend to dwell on scenes for too long, but I guess that can be fixed in editing. *cringes because editing will be very painful*

SO. Because I don't have a lot of time, I'm just sharing a bunch of snippets from my story. I actually have a love/hate relationship with them. They aren't as bad as I thought they would be, but I'm not sure if that's because I'm exhausted from writing this many words or because they're actually decent. (It's probably the former. XD) So read at your own risk.

Le Snippets

She glanced around the room, her vision obscured by ruffles of fabric and swirls of glitter from the gowns. Her gaze fell upon a lonely piano tucked away beside the staircase. To her surprise, no one sat at the instrument. The keys depressed by themselves as the piano played a haunting melody.

Charlotte shivered. Now that’s just creepy.

A hand clamped down on her shoulder, and she jumped. “Relax, Miss Davidson, it’s just me.”

She never thought she would be glad to the see the Lieutenant until now. Exhaling in relief, she allowed him to take her into the dance position. “How come the piano is playing by itself?”

He glanced down at her, eyebrows cocked. “Magic, my dear.”

“I’m not anyone’s dear.”

He flashed his pearly whites. “Apologies, love.”

Suffice to say, her relief had long since left her.

“So tell me, Miss Davidson, have you ever danced the valora?”

She shook her head, not yet willing to give him a verbal answer.

“Ah, then that would explain why you keep stepping on my foot.”

Charlotte smirked. “That’s not the reason.”

“Well, I generally don’t make it a habit of stepping on people’s feet during a dance. Just so you know.”

“You apparently make a habit of annoying people, it seems.”

He flashed a mischievous grin. “Do I annoy you, Miss Davidson?”

“Let me phrase it this way: having someone pull out my hair one by one would be far more agreeable than talking to you.”

The lieutenant still smiled. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

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Tom sighed. “Oh well. I shall just starve then.”

James plopped a bowl of stew down in front of him. “Don’t be so dramatic.”

Tom disregarded him and dove into the food, chewing the food so fast that James wondered he didn’t choke.

“Thish ish sho good,” he mumbled.

James groaned. “Can you not talk with a mouth full of food?”

Tom hurriedly swallowed before scooping another giant bite of stew in his mouth. “You’re right, no time to talk. Musht eat.”

It took him a total of 38 seconds to eat the first bowl. (Tom seemed proud of his fact despite James’s constant reminders that eating food rapidly was not a useful pastime.) After eating six bowls of the stew, he finally settled down with the leftover carrots.

“Ah, well, that was a good snack.” He patted his stomach contentedly.

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"So this is the Royal City?" Tom asked. He stood and stretched, gazing at the city ahead. He shrugged. "Not too impressive."

"You're only impressed with food anyway," James said.

Tom grinned. "Exactly." He ran ahead of James into the city streets.

"Wait up!" James called. He muttered a hasty apology to Brickle before scurrying off after his wild, hungry friend. He had probably spotted a sign for a restaurant or something.

"Tom!" He grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop. "What are you doing?"

"Found a restaurant!" He smiled at him victoriously.

Ha, I knew it.

"I'm positively famished," Tom complained. I haven't had anything to eat in two hours."

James rolled his eyes and pulled open the door to the nearest restaurant. "Well, try not to wither away and die before we order."

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Tom shrugged and wiped off his fingers on a napkin. “So what am I doing on the ship? The crew usually has to do something, right?”

James kept his gaze on the window, clutching the sill with tight fingers. He had already decided on the flight over what he would have to do, but he wasn’t sure how Tom would respond. “I’m going to have to smuggle you aboard.”

A grin made its way onto Tom’s face. “Really? Fantastic, I’ve never been smuggled aboard anything before!”

That response was more positive than he could have hoped for. James raised his brows. “You aren’t upset?”

“Upset? This is one of the most exciting things that’s ever happened to me!”

James shook his head in disbelief. Leave it to Tom to be happy about breaking the law.

<><><><><>

James made to walk away, but the officer extended a hand. "Not so fast." He raised his eyebrows. "I want to see your friend."

James gulped. "Friend?"

The lieutenant smirked. "Don't play innocent with me. You know who I'm talking about. The redhead. I know you smuggled him aboard the ship somewhere."

Beads of sweat made their way onto James's forehead. He swallowed past the lump in his throat again, twisting the strap of his satchel. "I'm not sure I follow."

"Oh, really?" The lieutenant walked straight over to the glitter cargo hold and pulled open the trapdoor. He climbed inside and emerged dragging Tom by the boot.

"Then I guess we just have more rodents aboard the ship than I had thought previously," Lieutenant Bradshaw said, letting Tom flop down on the floor in front of James.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Tom asked. He glared at the lieutenant and stood, brushing himself off and approaching James protectively. "I was taking a nap."

"Well, sorry to disturb you," the lieutenant growled. His expression said otherwise. "What were you doing in the glitter cargo?"

"Oops," Tom said. He appeared genuinely surprised and clutched at his throat.

"Tom, you didn't eat any, did you?" James asked. From the look on his face, James guessed he did. "I told you it wasn't edible!"

"I know, I just got really hungry and forgot."

Lieutenant Bradshaw started laughing, making the two of them stop and stare. When the lieutenant caught a breath, he said, "Expect to see your surroundings a lot better."

'What? Why?" Tom questioned.

"You may notice within a few hours that you start to...well, glow." The lieutenant smirked and walked away down the gangplank, leaving the two of them standing by themselves in shock.

Tom turned to James and grinned shakily. "I've always wondered what it felt like to eat glowing glitter." Then he gagged on the deck.

<><><><><>

James felt his hair blow backward in the gust and stumbled back a step. The beast slithered closer, its fangs extended, ready for the kill.

He jumped to his feet and scrambled away just as it lunged for his neck. Tom raced up beside him, wielding a hand full of glitter. He shouted and threw it at the creature. The glitter turned into a swarm of birds and dive-bombed the byrgon. The creature whipped its head around, knocking the birds aside like harmless little flies.

James grabbed his friend's arm. "Do you have any more ideas?"

"Hold on, give me a second. " Tom was staring at the byrgon with wide eyes, fumbling with something in the pocket of his trousers.

"Here!" he shoved something in James's hand. A piece of pumpersnap was there.

James lowered his eyebrows. "What is this for?"

Tom shoved a piece of his own bread in his mouth. "Sorry, I just needed to stress eat."

The byrgon was just a few feet away and sliding closer by the second, mouth open wide as it eyed its prey. James threw the bread at the beast, closing his eyes and picturing it turning into an arrow. He opened his eyes and to his amazement, the bread had disappeared, replaced by a razor-tipped arrow.

Thwap! The arrow landed squarely in the beast's mouth. It choked and froze, gagging on the arrow. Then, with one last desperate squeal, the byrgon collapsed in a pile of slimy appendages on the deck.

James let his shoulders fall, feeling the tension leak out at last. Tom stepped up to the defeated byrgon and prodded it with the toe of his boot. The appendage twitched, causing him to jump back in fear.

James waited for the beast to suddenly roar back to life, but nothing happened. It continued to twitch every few seconds, its muscles apparently contracting.

Lieutenant Bradshaw raced up to them and stared wide-eyed at the fallen creature. Glancing between Tom and James, he asked, "Did you just...?"

Tom draped his arm over James's shoulder and grinned triumphantly. He used his other arm to nudge James in the ribs. "And you said my love of food would never come in handy."

<><><><><>

They herded them all outside the little room and into the cool night air. James felt his stomach drop when he looked down. They were in a tree some three hundred feet in the air on a limb only ten feet wide. He gulped and forced himself to look away. Don't look down, he told himself. Just keep your eyes on the path ahead and focus on not falling to your death.

Fortunately for James, they made it across the tree limb to a much wider platform in the next tree. Unfortunately for him, they had to cross another one a couple minutes later.

He felt himself wanting to gag. I hate heights.

Tom edged up beside him as they crossed the other bridge. Grinning as always, he slapped him on the back. James's heart about leaped out of his body as he felt himself stumbling forward a step, closer to the edge.

"What's the matter, James?"

"You're the matter," he growled, still scared out of his wits from the near-death experience. "You should be more careful hitting someone on the back like that up here. I could've died."

Tom did not even miss a beat. No sign of remorse crossed his face, only amusement. "You're fine, James. Remember, this is just like the day you nearly fell off the dragon. Only this time it's actually a lot easier to fall."

"Remind me to kill you later."

<><><><><>

Running a hand through his hair, jaw tight, Alexander stared at the starry sky. He held his compass up before him, glowering at it.

"I don't understand how we ended up here...or where ‘here’ even is."

James leaned against the railing and tried to catch a glimpse of the compass. "Does that work?"

Lieutenant Bradshaw glanced at him, staring him up and down. "Of course. Doesn't your head work?"

James shrugged off the insult, quite used to them by now. In fact, he would almost be disappointed if the lieutenant did not insult him. He kind of got the impression that he liked him when he did that.

"After all, Mr. Magician, you're the one who got us lost."

James smirked. "And you're the one who somehow managed to almost get us sucked down a whirlpool."

He rolled his eyes and pocketed his compass, placing his hand on the wheel. "I only wish I had the foggiest clue where we are."

The lieutenant mumbled something incoherent under his breath, giving James the vague impression he was not pleased.

Good.

James pushed against the railing and decided to head to bed. There was not much going on up here, and it was obvious the lieutenant did not want him around. Of course, he wouldn't mind just hanging around to spite him, but he was already tired.

Waving, he called back, "Good night, Alexander."

The lieutenant grunted. "Do you have to call me that?"

"You told me to."

"Well, then try not to say it in such an irksome way."

"It's not an easy task when I'm addressing you." James grinned and ducked below the deck before the lieutenant could strangle him.

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Taking a hesitant step forward, Charlotte started after the strange woman. She jumped back in surprise as a shoe began crossing her path. It stopped suddenly, as if shocked by her arrival. The black boot began to hop along suddenly and hid away in a dark corner beneath the stairs.

"Ignore the boots!" the woman called. "They aren't very sociable around new company."

Charlotte turned the corner, coming behind the staircase...and finding herself in the same room she had been in before. She blinked, observing the maze of staircases that wound up onto the ceiling.

No, this room was different. Instead of red carpet, it had royal blue. And there was a grandfather clock propped up in the corner, ticking in a strange rhythm that reminded Charlotte of her heartbeat.

The woman was bustling around, balancing a silver tray and a butterfly net. "Oh, where is that blasted teapot now!" she exclaimed, waving her net around in the air ominously.

A porcelain teapot suddenly darted past, nearly whacking Charlotte in the face. Tom had entered just in time for it to slam into him instead.

"Catch it!" the woman shouted, pointing at Tom.

He yelled and grabbed the pot around the handle. The teapot strained against his grasp, trying to escape. The lid flew off and hit Tom between the eyes.

"Hey!" he said, rubbing his forehead.

The woman hurried over and yanked the teapot from his hands. She smacked it on the side lightly with the palm of her hand and waved her finger at it. "I told you not to hit strangers in the face! It's very rude!"

A squirt of tea flew out the spout into her face.

She glared at the pot and put it in the net. "Just for that, I'm getting your brother out instead."

The pot began to squirm in the net, trying to get out. It made what sounded like a whining sound, following by the clattering of its lid.

"You had your chance. Now be quiet and let me tend to my visitors."

The pot stopped squirming, but it let out one last drop of tea from its spout to indicate its displeasure.

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Um...so that may have gotten a little out of hand. Be very afraid of my NaNo recap post. O.O

How are you faring? Is NaNo treating you well or are you feeling like a deranged pigeon? (I'm kind of a mix at the moment. :P) And what did you think of the snippets? Who's your favorite character in my novel?

Welcome everyone! Today we - her writing pal’s in a hangout - have overtaken Mary’s blog. She was the first one out of all of us to make it to 50,000 words. We all decided we wanted to hack into her account once she made it to 50k, and this is the result.

MARY!!! Oh my word. First NaNo for both of us and look what YOU did! Not only did you hit the 50K mark, but you blew it away. IN NINE DAYS. *is still mindblown*

Seriously. We were both sweating the #5k1day on November 1st. I had it done before lunch and YOU, my awesome glitter queen, doubled it. I think I can vouch for the rest of us and say that November 1 was our crazy insane writing day and then life crashed in. Vacation, school, blech. Somehow you and you alone managed to bypass LIFE itself and are now the reigning queen of NaNoWriMo 2016.

Why is this such a big deal? Other than merely astonishing yourself and now the rest of the world with your fire fingers, you now have 50K for a book! Not just any book but THE book with glitter, cake, squirrel butlers, fairies, and all the things that we’ve been hearing about. So you’re doing the world a MAGNANIMOUS favor here. Because I’ve got news for you: we need your book. *cough* In a non-creepy way.

For all the times down the road when you feel SO done with this brilliant thing you are creating, don’t forget: we’re all counting on you and cheering you on every step of the way! On your own blog, no less! (Thanks for being so sweet about our subtle hacking ;P)

We all know that this creation of yours is gonna be nothing short of FRABJOUS and I am so thankful I’ve gotten to be a part of your journey so far. Be warned. Your book will change lives. And I’m pretty sure I can guarantee yours and mine will be among those.

How, I ask, HOW DID YOU WRITE 50K WORDS IN 9 STICKIN’ DAYS?? I’m so so so so sooooooooooo happy for yooouuuuu!! If you wrote like this all the time, I think you’d write 20 books in a year. That's a lot.

I’m like:

I’m like dying right now. Ugh. You killed me again. (remember that??? *wipes away happy tear*) As Abi said (and I quote) Your book will change lives. How, you ask? I don’t know. I know it changed mine. (AND I HAVEN’T EVEN READ IT YET!) You are so amazing! God has surely blessed you with an amazing gift; THE GIFT TO WRITE 50K IN 9 DAYS. So, we give you this celebratory post.

BRING OUT THE GLITTER!!! Isn’t glitter JUST the thing to celebrate with? Isn’t this post so random? Don’t we just all love you so much???

I just wanna say that YOU ARE SO AMAZING GAH! <3 <3 Anika out. *carefully sets mic on floor and strides off of the stage*

They say (‘they’ being up for discussion of course, as I do not have the exact quote) that the pen is the mightiest sword and while you’re over there going:

I’m like:

So congratulations and all that. PLEASE remember to eat lunch today, and go to bed before two in the morning. *reminds you to function*

And another thing; don’t you dare say that your book is an ugly mess (well, if it is, it’s a beautiful, creative mess). You already have several people demanding (nicely, mind you) to beta/alpha read about your glitter and squirrels when you finish. *flails*

Well first, congrats on your NaNo win like.... WHAT ARE WE DOING I’M LIKE FLAILING IN THE WATER AND THE GREAT SQUIRREL MASTER (AKA MARY) HAS RISEN TO THE TOP OF WRITERS AND IS DOMINATING THE WORLD.

Anyways.

I can’t wait to read this book because it’s got squirrel butlers, glitter, and apparently sass and that JUST SOUNDS AMAZING. You are a superhero. Like you doubled #5k1day THEN THEN THEN you went above and beyond every other day really.

*throws glitter* *makes glitter cake* *calls the unicorns to dance*

Everytime I see a squirrel I think of butlers.

Everytime I think of glitter well……

I imagine all of us winning NaNo and having a big party with cake and stuff.

Congratulations on winning my legolas loving friend!!! Thanks for all the fun wars and sprints in which we all tried to beat Jonathan. Lol. This was super long and I used a lot of gif’s but anyways.

I can't believe it, I mean, I do believe it but you are literally incredible, I've been having so much fun doing Nano with you, (even though you crush me every time we sprint XD) and I cannot believe you've already reached your goal, you're insane, but in like the awesomest way possible. please keep writing your book because it sounds really awesome and I'd love to beta-read for you when it's done. XD

MY MIND IS BLOWN THOUGH.

And btw don’t let Sarah tell you that you shouldn’t cry just cause you guys are twins because crying is perfectly acceptable okay.

WELL HEY THERE MARY BETCHA YOU’RE SURPRISED THAT WE’RE HIJACKING YOUR BLOG RIGHT?? *cue awkward coughing* Okay well maybe not. Buuuuuut even if there’s no surprise (which actually I brought a glitter cannon so there’s a small surprise) WE ARE STILL HERE. DOING SOMETHING OR OTHER. So the next obvious question is, what on earth are we doing?

Well, in short, we’re basically here to throw a giant party and tell you that YOU R.O.C.K.

Like somehow you’ve already written 50k? Superhero status=yours. (also the crown is yours, but not the throne sorry) You’re always super fun and bouncy and easy to talk to. You’re always ready to write and duuuuuuuude your snippets though. <3

We’ve been through a lot of wars (*winkwink*) together and you’ve nearly always been on the opposite side I think (ahem XP). But you’re still always a great friend and you’re not afraid to slap me when I need to be slapped. XD

Here’s to 50k! Congratulations from all of us! :D *glitter flies everywhere*

*blinks* *blinks again* YOU WROTE 50,000 WORDS IN 9 DAYS. 216 hours. 12,960 minutes. 777,600 seconds. AND YOU DIDN’T EVEN USE ALL OF THAT TIME. whhhhaaat even.

And. you were the one who’s document wouldn’t open right away!! Somehow, you beat us all, even though you kept on crying *points down at Sare cuz she’ll say something ‘bout that* that you couldn’t beat us in word sprints.

Girl. I think I remember that story of the tortoise and the hare? *realizes I haven’t written in days*

(forget that it’s not a hare. okay?)

*pushes jonathan out of the way* *gives Mary the throne* STILL CAN’T BELIEVE YOU HIT SUCH AN AMAZING GOAL. I mean, forgive us, we just HAD to hack you. ITS SUCH A BIG DEAL YA KNOW

Basically thanks for battling with us, being my substitute sister *laughs at sare’s glare*, constantly being there to word war with, annnnnnnd since everyone else is throwing glitter at you *explodes glitter at you*

I am so unbelievably proud and astonished by your writing skills, Mary. Pretty sure I should also be scared -- 50k in ten days is NOT HUMAN and what kind of sacrifices are you making?? Are you even alive anymore??

You are going to do amazing things with your words someday. I just know it. Your blog never fails to make me smile, and I can’t wait to read your book someday and chuck it in people’s faces demanding that they buy and love the thing. xDKeep going. You’re incredible, and just know that we’re all here for you whenever editing gets hard or it seems like your book is nothing better than a rotten pile of garbage. (which is a LIE because your book is better. unless the garbage has pizza in it. but your book would still be better so there.)

We love you and are so very proud of you! I feel so special to be a part of this thing for such an amazing writer like you. GO MARY. <3 I volunteer to be your personal writing cheerleader whenever you need it. *waves pompoms*

I seriously don’t know how you survived this past week, and want to congratulate you. How even?! We were all freaking out about writing 5k in one day, then you wrote 10k instead!

(This was our reaction)

You were on fire! I had such a blast warring with you, and loved all the chats. (they were quite entertaining, don’t you agree?) We all had our times of craziness, but you exceeded it all by writing 50k in 9 days! I had to hide when I saw you were already done.

It was madness. I still don’t understand how you did it.

For now keep up the hard work of finishing your novel -because it sounds amazing, and glittery. :)

And I want to read it now, so you gotta finish it.

(Now you don’t have to worry about not getting enough rest. You can sleep and eat like a normal person )

okay, legit girl. You wrote 50k in one day. WHAT EVEN. YOU ARE SO EPIC. *shakes you* yeahhhh, I did ask you to stop a lot I’M SORRY but you were kind of like a mad scientist or something. Ahem. anywayssss.

We are twins, okay, we both know it. Except for one thing. QUIT THE EXCESSIVE CRYING GURL.

I still don’t think crying is good for you (whatever Chloe the queen of knowledge and reality says) I READ A BOOK ABOUT IT ONCE OKAY. other than the crying thing, we are total virtual twins k but if you ever do cry in the refrigerator aisle i'll be there to give you a hug...and tell you to buck it up

btw i love how you trust me so much to like let me in your blog #ifeelgreat

I think the most insanely epic times were when you, Jonathan and I were sprinting. (forget about Julia she was way ahead, the first time anyways). IT WAS SO STRESSFULLY AWESOME. I’m sorry for the time i crushed i literally crushed you all...not rly *smirk*

thanks for sticking with me when everyone wanted my head off I MEAN PLZ you were my only comrade *hugs* It was epic, okay? You are such a fun person and totally a challenging sprinter. LIKE IF YOU STOP THIS BOOK I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN K *waves* <3333

p.s. i forgive you for the time you showed me the peanut butter cup you were eating when i was going sugar free for a week *dumps glitter of forgiveness on you*

Mary Elizabeth Horton. I CAN’T EVEN THINK OF WORDS RIGHT NOOOOW. (except for “CAN I READ YOUR STORY?!” - BUT THAT’S BESIDES THE POINT)

You finished your first NaNoWriMo – IN NINE DAYS. GOOD FOR YOU, writing queen! *hands you crown and shows you to your throne* I DUB THEE MARY, MASTER OF THE GLITTER WORDS. (and yeah, you totally get a throne - ignore Jonathan XD)

You were SO UNBEATABLE during NaNo. THIS *points down at gif* was basically us whenever you wanted to war -

Or sometimes THIS, as we glanced at your word count during a sprint and DESPERATELY HOPED WE WERE AHEAD FOR ONCE -

(because a legolas gif was needed, my elf-loving writing friend XD)

I was, to say the least, AH-MAZED when I found out you had written 10,000 words on the first day. YOU DOUBLED 5K1DAY. HOW EVEN. *is still in shock* *is not sure how this is possible* Like … which superhero did you switch places with. I’m still trying to figure it. JUST GO GET THYSELF SOME REST AND FOOD, MS. SUPERHUMAN, OKAY? Okay. *shoves all the ice-cream to you*

I LOVE warring/sprinting/chatting with you - even when we all tell you to ‘STAHPPP MARY, YOU’RE TOO FAST’ - and hearing all about your EPIC novel *nods*. And stalking you. Stalking is always fun. BASICALLY BEING IN THE NANO ‘16 CABIN WITH YOU IS EPIC FUN-NESS (that can be a word if I want it to be *crosses arms defiantly*).

ANYWAYS. I’m rambling left, right, and center right now – but basically what I want to say is YOU DID SMASHINGLY, YOU MAGIC WRITING ELF! CONGRATULATIONS from all your writing buddies! :D *showers you in 1.7 tons of glitter* *lights the explosives*

Though the 50k is now done, the novel is not, and we all want to encourage Mary to not give up. Writing is a gift, a challenge, and an adventure all in itself. So press onward, the journey is not done. We are all here encouraging you. (and we all want to read it. XD)